Whenever I have the privilege of the “time” I try to take a walk to my yoga classes on Main Street, my walk to the studio is like a little adventure as there is always something new around the corner.

Since we are so lucky to have these 4 different seasons in the year, the landscape is always changing and these walks never repeat themselves.

The other day I was about to cross paths with this lady that was walking towards a garden on one side of the road. The lady slowly stopped in front of this big colourful flower, looked at me and looked back at this flower and said: Look at this beautiful flower here!.Her expression was so heartfelt and honest that I couldn’t resist feeling amazed by what she said.

I was more impressed with her amusement that with the flower herself, yes it was a beautiful flower indeed, but, is was unique to hear her saying what a great discover she’s just made.

My answer to her was: Yes it is a beautiful flower, we better enjoy it now, since it will be gone soon.

And as I walked away in my happy go lucky stroll I thought to myself, isn’t this lady a nicer approach to things than the one many of us have in life?

Is a better approach than the one person walking down the street Pokemon-going on their phone missing the beautiful summer as they catch non-existing weird looking cartoons. A better approach than that dude’s using headphones and ignoring everybody around him. A better approach to life than the one I have when I text my way to work and avoid eye contact with strangers.

Think next time I will keep my phone in my pocket longer and find a wiser way to spend time as I travel or commute, and maybe I can find and see even more beauty around me.

She has a contagious smile and you walk out of her class feeling surprisingly excited and calm at the same time

Now get to know her a little bit better through this short interview and treat yourself to one of her happy classes.

How long have you been practicing yoga? As a student and as a teacher?
I have been practising yoga for 5 years and teaching for 2 years
What was that “Aha!” moment that brought you to become a yoga teacher?
The “Aha!” Moment that brought me to become a yoga teacher was the immense joy in sharing yoga even in teacher training. Planning classes are a creative outlet and the joy in teaching is immense.

What are 3 of the biggest things you have noticed that yoga brings to your life?
The three biggest things that yoga brings in my life are:
1) Healing from past injuries and present day stiffness in shoulders. Hips, and low back.
2) Confidence on my mat transfers to confidence in my life to explore new opportunities that come up.
3) Peace in the present moment. Letting go of the past and not worrying about the future.
Can you now imagine your life without yoga?I cannot imagine my life without yoga! When I first began I practised Hatha and power 3-4 times a week. Nowadays I’ve included yin and restorative yoga. I also practice postures in the morning before getting out of bed to warm up my body for my day. At the end of the day, I include a few postures before bed. If I notice I am sitting for a long period of time I take breaks and practice cat and cow. I include planks throughout my day to build strength.
What would you say to your Before yoga persona to encourage him/her to get on the mat?
I would say to my before yoga persona to schedule in yoga classes. It is as important as all the other appointments in my life. Try different styles of yoga and different teachers.
What would you add to finish this sentence: life setbacks are…?
Life setbacks happen for all of us…even yoga teachers. Yoga is a framework to give you clarity, creativity, courage, and community to live your life.

I was walking down the street the other day, in an early morning, before heading to work. And I started reflecting on love, and happiness and about how much these two feelings blend in one for me, sometimes to mean the same thing and at the same time.

I realized that for me, love & happiness comes in little bits, in small pieces that build up during the day, for example, Love can be feeling happy for having that special person waiting for you at home, or the tasty meal you will have at dinner time.

Also feeling happy because when I woke up I felt fully rested, and had a sweet cup of coffee right after!… this is why I say love and happiness come in little bits, small lego pieces that build up my day or weeks. Some days I can be happier that others of feel more in love than others.

I may be in love with you or with my future plans, happy for what is coming or rearranging my thoughts to be happy with what didn’t quite worked out as I expected.

Just as I think about happiness and love and hear about it, I think is possible to fabricate it for ourselves, as live evolves you realize this love & happiness ideas are just possible under your own terms, and we can be also happing in the making of these ideas.

So as in one on my previous posts I said that we can dwell on good thoughts I think I am now going to dwell on love and happiness thoughts and see what happens

If you agree with me, (or not ) I would love to hear about it, in the meantime, I am going to be happy and add more love to my life at least for this weekend, I wish the same for you :)!

The other day we were introduced to a very special person whose job is to nurture companies cultures and to motivate groups.

I can describe this special individual, as the kind of person who vibrates at a higher frequency, someone that gives you peace and calm as soon as you shake hands with them. As he started his conversation it felt that he was going to deliver a very important message: I wasn’t wrong.

He told us this metaphor about a chair sitting in front of you, and the chair telling you who you are, after saying this he asked: who has the power in this situation? The answer: The chair has the power in this situation, what the chair says you are is what you believe you are, you are letting this chair dictate your situation, that is you depositing all the power in an external source.

Then he continues… if you put this chair behind you and decide not to listen to it, then you are no longer under “The chairs control” you have taken away all the power from it, so bottom line you decide whether you let external on internal sources to determine your circumstances, or you take control over the situation and work towards your goals in despites of what may be going on in your life.

How many times we have said to ourselves I can’t overcome this obstacle because I am too short, or too fat. That shouldn’t be the way to approach life, switch gears, take a deep breath and move that chair away from your sight.

I was trying to remember people that overcome obstacles that for others would have meant giant chairs and found these examples:

1. Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was four years old _ He developed the theory of relativity

2. Jim Carrey used to be homeless – One of the best comedians of his era

3. Bethany Hamilton had her arm bitten off by a shark – She won first place in the Explorers Women’s Division of the NSSA National Championship

4. Richard Branson has dyslexia – He is the fourth richest person in the UK

5. Stephen King’s first novel was rejected 30 times – he has now sold over 350 million copies

And the achiever’s list goes on forever, just look around and you will realize that success is not equal to lack of obstacles, is more about overcoming these obstacles without letting them decide for us! Don’t let the chair take over when you are “The one in control”

I got caught saying this to myself the other day: I will be so happy when I am done with this “current project”…and realized hey! I have said this before, many many years ago when I was looking forward concluding my thesis, then again when I was trying to sell my car and again and again on multiple occasions.

Who knows how many other times I have inadvertently postponed my happiness? Why is happiness or satisfaction always a place in the future?

This doesn’t have to be the case I have set a definitive date and list for my happiness. Working to accomplish my goal of happiness instead of just adding to the list. I will end this cycle of procrastinating and reach my ultimate goal of happiness.

The phrase ” there is no time like the present ” now resonates within.

I am making up my mind to be here and now in the present, to forget that grass is always greener… to forget that I am a better person with this or that achievement, because I am good enough just now, this morning, as I open my eyes and walk down the street heading towards a new day.

I will complain less and appreciate more,I will stuff my brain with more good news and focus on good memories and store good laughs.

I don’t want to keep paying this fee to be re-scheduling my happiness, today everything is just so perfectly great.

So it’s Monday! the perfect day of the week to be here, and now, to be YOU and me !!

I can’t afford Procrastination anymore !!!! will capitalize on my life enjoyment from now on!

We are pleased to introduce you to Yvonne (Padma) Jaques

Our new Yoga teacher who will be sharing more than 4 decades of Yoga Experience with you

Below a short 6 questions interview, done to introduce you to her practice:

How long have you been practicing yoga?
I have been practicing yoga for 44 years. As a student 44 years and as a teacher off and on for 35 years. consistently and regularly as an occupation since 2004.

What was that “Aha!” moment that brought you to become a yoga teacher?
When I found my teacher I spontaneously longed to share all that I was being gifted in the form of their teachings, because of the profound effects and results I was experiencing from their teachings.

What are 3 of the biggest things you have noticed that yoga brings to your life?Clarity and single-pointed focus and ability to concentrate and hold my mind still – especially since completing a three-year silent meditation retreat from 2011 – 2013.
More capacity to consider others and the effect I have on others in all ways.
Wiser choices in all areas of my life.

Can you now imagine your life without yoga?Unimaginable, because yoga IS MY LIFE, on and off the mat, whether teaching, studying, practicing or contemplating.

Why do you think people should practice yoga?Because with Yoga you can experience a positive result whether physical, mental, emotional or energetic (i.e., prana, subtle body experiences)

Lastly please finish this sentence: life setbacks are…

What we make them and how we view them, a setback to one person is a springboard for another, and what appears to be a setback in one moment for me, then has the potential to magically transform into a remarkable opportunity in the next moment!

Yvonne’s Practice has been inspired by her teacher: Swami Muktibodhananda

Swami Muktibodhananda is a preeminent Western yoga teacher who translated from Sanskrit and commentated the circa 1500 yogic text Hatha Yoga Pradipika, her translation is probably the most widely used in the Western world nowadays

Is Saturday morning … I am already on my mat about to kick off with Sarita’s class, this week was a pretty intense and the clutter of the past busy days is still in my head, my body is resenting so many hours of seating.

What a week! Yeaks, can’t believe it, all the things I had to do, how is this even possible… this is bad…my thoughts keep spinning around and around.

I need this class so bad I tell to myself and start placing my intention:

Thank you, my intention for this class will be to give thanks: I start to make a list of everything I am grateful for and I realize, hey? Why was I feeling so overwhelmed? What did I decide to think this was a bad week? It wasn’t a bad week at all!!! It was a terrific week as matter fact!

My thoughts start slowly shifting from a stressful storm of negative ideas to a peaceful realization of accomplishment, the more points I add, the more I see my feelings were the result of only seen the negative side of everything, instead of transitioning to the completion of my week’s challenges

As the class goes on I notice the spots in my lungs I letting air come through, it hurts, the stress was not allowing me to breathe normally and I was not conscious about until I stopped and stepped on my mat Sarita’s classes are one of my favorites ( I only have one favourite class per teacher in the studio ) before the class finishes Sarita shares special insights from her teachers that to me are extremely enlightening.

Saturday’s insight resonated within me: we are hardwired for negativity, and we need to purposely shift into positive thoughts and dwell on the positive thoughts, be aware not to drift away into the darker side of the brain.

After my class, I decided to research more about this as Sarita mentioned this was based on science and found more information to increase awareness to help ourselves from drowning in pessimism.

So don’t let your brain fool you! life is great just read more about how to make the switch

You cannot “bounce back” from hardship you can only move through it. There is a path through pain to wisdom, through suffering to strength and through fear to courage _ if we have the virtue of resilience.

In a previous blog entry, I have mentioned life struggles, this time, I am bringing up the topic from the resilience point of view ( the tool to overcome struggles ) , the popular saying circulating around “do you bend or break”? I want to talk about this virtue that we all come with, do we come with the resilience chip in us? Or do we learn to be resilient?

I think from my life experience that strength is either is in us or we develop resilience, to me, my source of resilience is yoga, my quiet time and home and meditating or praying, reflecting on the resilience growth I must say that breathing deeply in the class helps me calm down, and somehow detach from unnecessary burdening thoughts. The one hour yoga class is like a session to sweep away shadows, concerns, and repetitive thoughts, they go away or far away enough so I can see them in perspective: to either find a solution to conflictive situations when there is a solution, or find strength to accept there will no be way out of it, and let it go, and come to terms with the outcome.

Reading this book Resilience by Eric Greitens made me realize that along with my practice some research in the subject may also help to build up resilience,if you have the time to read this book, and reflect on it, you’ll notice how much the practice enhances this one virtue in your life I am sure you will see resilience happening in your life much more often

Have you found yourself in special situations when you have needed to learn how to be flexible rather than breaking?

The news were hard to believe and even harder to digest a week away from the incident, and media saturated, a question keeps resonating within my head, why are these mass shooting happening? Why is there any mass killing happening at all?

Can someone go insane, decide to buy guns, accumulate so much hate against certain group and decide to kill as many as he can in one night?

It seems like an individual or a group can do just as about whatever he/they want to do, this individual could be Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, could be me or you, could be the US military killing civilians in “war zones” whether the action is right or wrong, the decision is to hurt or help, all the resources are out there at our finger tips, we can mass shoot a crowd or we can lead a successful life in whatever way we think success comes, enlist in the army or volunteer to feed the poor, in a first world country this is a matter of choice.

We have access to education there are laws and restrictions these kind of tragedies are not supposed to happen in an era when we have “evolutionated” for thousands of years now.

Seems like we haven’t progressed much when we have it all and still decide to hate each other, this killing was hate, ignorance, free access to weapons, mental illness, you name it, for me it all starts with the ONE who ignored its responsibility that comes with the free will to make decisions: hurting instead of respecting.

My body was aching, and I felt tired, I went out for dinner instead, or maybe just stayed in and watched TV, and even though, knowing I needed to go, I didn’t make it to my yoga class, all these not so great decisions I make and feel bad about, whenever I chose to do something else over my practice I regret later, other times I really can’t make it to yoga say I need to finish a project or go and run some errands that can’t wait one more day.

Whatever the reason is, I always wish I could have made it to the class, and then is when I do my practice at home, the luxury of this option is that I can set my diffuser and enjoy the relaxation of the aroma blends that I keep at home, and is FREE of charge!

This option allows me to set my practice whenever I want, no need to check the schedule or make time to make it to the studio, I may have just 1 hour or less to practice, before I head out, that makes enough time to do it and still have a great day with yoga in my routine. Did I mention this option is free? yes it is and it has video, audio, and words is constantly renewed with new material and insights

So here you go another option to stick to your practice, keep building excuses free yoga life!